David Fizdale's problem closing out games travels with him from Memphis to the Knicks

It’s rare that a coach gets four opportunities to draw up a game-winning play, but that was David Fizdale’s reality in Monday’s slopfest double OT loss to the Bulls.

And the Knicks missed all of them.

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Twice out of timeouts the ball ended up in the hands of Allonzo Trier for a failed isolation play. After Trier was blocked on his second chance, Fizdale drew up an inbounds play from the baseline that resulted in a turnover with three seconds remaining in OT.

On that errant pass from Emmanuel Mudiay, Fizdale said, “I thought we had it but we just threw it short to Enes (Kanter).” On Trier’s misses, Fizdale said those plays weren’t his intention, “but (the Bulls) ended up switching and I don’t want him to give up the ball if he gets the right matchup in that situation.”

Knicks coach David Fizdale needs to step up his game when it comes to end of game decisions. (Nick Wass / AP)

The final chance – which stemmed from the difficult circumstance of having to inbounds the ball down the court with just 2.1 seconds remaining in the first OT - resulted in a missed 3-pointer from Kanter.

These failures, piled up in Monday’s marathon, underscored an early disturbing trend for the Knicks, one that has followed Fizdale from Memphis: an issue closing out games.

The Knicks (3-8) are 0-4 this season in games decided by six points or fewer. They represent the Eastern Conference’s worst team in the fourth quarter, getting outscored by an average of 4.7 points in those 12 minutes. Much of that ugly statistic is the product of losing the fourth quarter to the Warriors last month, 47-16. But it’s also a common symptom of a bad team without a true star or closer.

If, for instance, Mario Hezonja hadn’t missed an easy putback Monday following Trier’s first miss, the Knicks would be celebrating their first close victory. This article wouldn’t be written yet. Such is often the narrative of the habitually rebuilding Knicks.

“They’ll keep chopping the tree, they’ll get over the hump,” Fizdale said. “I see great character in this team.”

Against the Nets last month, it was Tim Hardaway Jr. allowing Caris LeVert to drive for the game-winner with one second remaining. One night later, the Knicks blew a lead with less than a minute remaining against the Celtics. They had a chance to tie that game with eight seconds left, but the out-of-timeout play blew up when Trey Burke couldn’t inbounds the ball.

“I drew up a crap play. It was terrible,” Fizdale said back then. “That’s the first thing I said to the team. I own that. That was a bad play and I had two really good plays I could’ve looked at. It was the stink play.”

In Memphis, Fizdale was fired last season mostly because of his poor relationship with Marc Gasol. But GM Chris Wallace, perhaps just desperately searching for another reason, cited the Grizzlies’ inability to close out games.

Under Fizdale, they had won just five of their last 21 games decided by five points or fewer. And that issue continues in New York.